on your marks, get set, fall in love
by Emullz
Summary: What caught the hearts of the nation wasn't just Jackson's determination to use blue food dye in every cake or Chase's ability to plan down to a tenth of a gram-these were endearing, and they made both fan favorites from the very beginning episodes. What made them truly special is that it was the first ever chance for Bakeoff to tell a love story. percabeth bakeoff au (also on a03)


You would be hard-pressed to find a show more beloved to a nation than the Great British Bake Off, and it would be even harder to find a more beloved crop of bakers than those we've watched in the tent this season. We loved watching Leo build castles out of biscuit and Katie show us her unique types of flour (who knew sorghum made such light sponges? Not Paul Hollywood!). But none of them compare to the borderline fanaticism displayed over Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, a semifinalist and winner, respectively.

What caught the hearts of all the viewers wasn't just Manchester native Jackson's determination to use blue food dye in every cake or Chase's ability to plan down to a hundredth of a gram—these were endearing, and they made both contestants fan favorites from the very beginning episodes. What made them, and this season, truly special is that it was the first ever chance for Bake Off to tell a love story.

I got to sit down with the couple and talk to them about their experience on the show, as well as the stunning revelation in the "where are they now" clips that roll during the credits of the finale episode. "This was Annabeth's idea," Jackson admitted sheepishly when I asked why they were finally accepting our request for an interview. "We got kinda tired of people interrogating us in shops and stuff, and we thought maybe if we talked about it people would have less to ask us about while we're trying to find ripe bananas."

We met in a coffeeshop in a secluded section of the neighborhood in which Chase attends University; I was informed as we sat down that she was on break and could only talk for a half hour. She looked much as she did on the show, her hair up in a messy ponytail and a smudge of coffee grounds high on her cheekbone she either didn't notice or didn't care about. Jackson, dressed in his unofficial uniform of jeans and a T-shirt worn through with several holes, remarked that if Chase had to go back to work, it might be lucky as he told the stories better. Chase smacked him and told me sternly not to believe Jackson's lies, to which he protested and called them "exaggerations." I began to wonder what I was getting myself into.

Their relationship hadn't changed much from the way it was in the tent, I was told by other contestants on the series. "They bickered constantly," said Chiron, who was eliminated early on in the competition. As a professor from Northumberland, he's dealt with enough students to know what was really going on: "it was quite obvious Percy wanted to impress her, and Annabeth was too invested in the competition to notice."

"As the weeks went on, we really had to stick together to stay sane," Katie Gardener told me in a phone interview. "I think that was when [Jackson and Chase] became inseparable. I never noticed until it was pointed out to me, but if you watch the footage back, whenever we're being judged they're sat right next to one another."

Fellow contestant Zoë Nightshade has been quoted saying, "I remember when Percy won Star Baker and Annabeth kissed his cheek, he went kind of dumb for a bit." When asked about this moment himself, Jackson flushed and took a hurried sip of his cappuccino. "It was too many impossible things happening at once," he said. "Paul almost had a coronary when I told him my breadsticks were going to be blue, and Annabeth is way out of my league."

Chase nodded. "It was really dumb of you to dye those grissini blue." When I politely disagreed, she shot me a look. "I didn't say it turned out badly, I just said it was dumb." When I went home and watched the footage back (mostly for research), I confirmed my theory that Chase was just as flustered when asked about Jackson in her interview with the producers. As the English countryside looked quite picturesque behind her, Chase nervously played with the straps of her apron. "I don't know how he does it…baking, I mean, not— well, he's— I'm happy for him," she said, blushing deeply.

Out of the tent, however, Chase is completely in her element. When asked how her baking style has changed, she cited Bake Off's influence on her flavors. "Once I started buying more exotic ingredients, I had to start working a bit to keep up with the costs. On the show, if you didn't bring in crazy flavors you'd get outshone, and now I've developed a taste for them. Passionfruit essence doesn't come cheap, especially when I have books to buy as well," she told me animatedly.

Jackson had charmed the country during the show by testing his bakes on his coworkers at the fire station, and when I directed the same question at him he grinned ruefully. "Oh, now they wait until I bring in Annabeth's bakes. They agree with Paul and Mary that she's the real champion, and no matter how hard I try they always like her stuff better." He went on to describe the blind taste test he'd put the entire station through, the end of which had Chase trying in vain to hide a laugh behind her hand.

"One of the cakes was blueberry and the other one was lemon and cardamon," she said in the face of his puzzled expression. "I think the identity of who baked which cake speaks for itself, and they love to mess with you."

We've seen this look on Chase before; many episodes of the show boast scenes where she's rolling her eyes in the background as Paul Hollywood drops hints that Percy's technique is the exact wrong way to bake. In the beginning, fans noted that these were met with scowls when his bakes somehow turned out perfectly (to both Jackson and Hollywood's surprise). As the show continued on, however, we were met with smirks, grins, and even once a hand squeeze that did not go unnoticed by the audience. Three million views on a video titled "10 HOURS OF PUFF PASTRY CHALLENGE PERCABETH HAND SQUEEZE!" had my boss interested enough to set up this interview, and me interested enough to ask a very important question.

"How on Earth did this happen?" was the exact phrasing I used, but many variations have been parroted in the comments of the aforementioned video and on many other "Percabeth" compilations. When I asked the big question, Chase looked a bit uncomfortable, but Jackson was quick to cross his hand over hers and start talking.

The way Jackson tells it, she didn't think much of him when they first arrived. "They introduced us all, and I was sort of cracking jokes to try and make everyone, including myself, less nervous. I think Annabeth thought I wasn't taking it seriously."

"I remember him shaking my hand and saying I could remember which one he was because he had the same haircut as Sue. And I'd already seen him napping over two seats on the train in, so I told him I noticed his drooling and then I went to talk to someone less annoying," Chase chimed in. Jackson barked a sudden laugh, and I began to understand why people would search the deep regions of the internet for cheesy fan videos of the two of them.

They continued the story, talking over one another and yelling, punching, or eye rolling as needed. The highlight had to be when Jackson interrupted Chase with a description of Judge Mary Berry's hot pink blazer and Chase covered Jackson's mouth with her hand, only to yelp a second later after Jackson licked her palm. She grabbed a napkin, punched his shoulder, and continued with her story. Jackson looked altogether too pleased with himself.

The main components of the relationship followed the pattern that had been revealed to the audience every Wednesday evening: the animosity, played down by the network until bread week when Jackson killed a spider that had been terrorizing Chase as she tried to knead her sourdough. The final frame of that footage shows Jackson breathing hard, baking tray in hand, grinning at a relieved Chase. This was the image the network rolled with in teasers for the episode, using the tagline "the first casualty ever shown on the Great British Bake Off." Chase and Jackson both admitted the moment was a bit of a wake-up call, as did all the other contestants I spoke with.

"He'd look up at her all the time," Leo Valdez told me. "People always wondered how he noticed Annabeth was in trouble with that spider, but I would've been more surprised if he hadn't. My station was behind Percy's every episode I did on the show, and let me tell you, they must have had to work really hard in post _not_ to make it obvious."

Zoë Nightshade had a different perspective on the incident: "It doesn't surprise me when they played up that moment as opposed to all the other quiet interactions we had with each other. For all the fun we had baking and hanging out, they have a show to make, and Percy killing that spider ticked all their boxes."

The spider was only the beginning of Jackson and Chase getting to know each other, however. Jackson informed me that she forced some of her sourdough on him after, as a thank you, and from then on they made a point of forcing bakes on each other. "It became this huge game of who-owed-who," he explained, "and then we realized we were really good at critiquing each other's bakes and it became like a workshopping thing."

"It used to bug Paul, that I'd ask for Percy's opinion before his," Chase added, and all of a sudden I could see it: Paul Hollywood's famous brooding eyes turned to Jackson and Chase's natural way with each other. Mel and Sue teasing him for being jealous. The two of them munching on blue grissini and ignoring everyone else in the tent.

The timeline after that was simple. Moments between the signature and the technical were spent together, he knew how she took her tea so he could bring her some after they both got their bakes in the oven. Chase even, I was informed, sent Jackson pictures of her practice bakes gone wrong during the weeks between filming. It eventually reached the point where Jackson was upping his baking game "not to win the competition, but to make sure I got to hang out with her for another weekend." If that doesn't melt your heart, I don't know what will.

Jackson eventually did go home just before the finale, however, after a severely soggy-bottomed fruit pie placed him below the rest of the competition. Chase famously cried in her interview with the producers, partly because she had been the other contestant in danger of leaving, and partially because Jackson wouldn't be back for the finale.

"He saw me the morning before the showstopper and he said that if I pulled any punches because I felt bad making him go home, he'd never speak to me again," Chase said. "It had gotten to the point that I felt like it wouldn't be Bake Off without him, and I hadn't been able to concentrate right since he did poorly on the signature bake."

Jackson grinned and ran his hands through his hair. "It felt way to dramatic for a baking show, but we always did bring the drama. So I told her I'd be back next weekend to hang out and eat her winning cake, and I was."

"It pissed me off, because I'd wanted to win before we were friends and now I was letting him ruin my excitement at being in the finale, and then I cried and could barely be interviewed," Chase said. "I'm still embarrassed about it."

"And how did it turn into—" I started, but before I could finish Jackson was laughing.

"I knew you were going to ask that," he said, and Chase rolled her eyes (again). "After they announced she won, she came over with a piece of her showstopper and said she owed me and here was my payment, and then I smashed it in her face. And it tasted awesome."

"And here we are," Chase said, looking at her watch and getting up quickly. We'd finished the interview just on time, apparently, as her break finished up. Jackson and I watched her carry pastries out to a group of young girls, all of them clamoring for a picture. She obliged and then waved Jackson over, pouting when he shook his head.

I was roped into taking the picture of Jackson and Chase flanked by the ecstatic girls, and in that moment it was obvious what made the pair of them Britain's sweethearts. Jackson told the girls they should be glad Chase had baked the pastries instead of him, and the youngest of the group, a girl in pigtails with a long scarf, vehemently disagreed. "I wouldn't mind if they were yours," she said. "Blue's my favorite color."

Chase grinned. "Mine too."

 _This article was written by Rachel Elizabeth Dare, a staff writer for The Guardian's website. You can find more of her work on her author page on on her blog, .com._


End file.
